News / Palestine

US embassy move to Quds ruins whole Middle East, Fatah warns

Sunday, 05 March 2017 2:07 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 05 March 2017 2:44 PM ]

File photo shows Palestinians praying in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds. (AP Photo)

The Palestinian Fatah political faction has warned against the potential relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, stressing that any such move will “explode the situation” in the Middle East and North Africa.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad, the spokesman for the Ramallah-based movement, stated on Saturday that the US Congress “should understand that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem (al-Quds) will not only explode the situation in Palestine but the whole MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.”

The Fatah spokesman’s remarks came as a US congressional delegation, led by Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, is currently paying a visit to the occupied territories to study the possibility of the move.

File photo shows Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad, the spokesman for the Palestinian Fatah political faction.

Since taking office in late January, US President Donald Trump has been exploring avenues to fulfill his campaign pledge and move the US diplomatic mission in Israel to Jerusalem al-Quds.

Speaking in a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 2, Jordanian King Abdullah II stated that such a move would wreck the prospects for the so-called two-state solution, and could worsen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In this file photo, people waiting for US visas line up at the US embassy in Tel Aviv. (Photo by AP)

On January 5, Jordanian Information Minister Mohammed Momani said moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds would be a “red line” for Jordan and would “inflame the Islamic and Arab streets.”

He noted that the transfer of the US diplomatic mission could disrupt relations between the US and regional allies, including Jordan, stressing that Amman will make use of all available political and diplomatic avenues to prevent the relocation.

Jordan administers the holy al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has also warned the US against the relocation of its diplomatic mission in Israel, saying all American embassies in the Arab world would have to close in the face of popular Arab outrage that would follow such an action.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has cautioned all foreign countries against relocating their respective embassies in Israel from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem al-Quds.

In an address to the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on February 27, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said, “We call for the establishment of a system, which would guarantee the independence of the Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital, within the boundaries of the 4th of June, 1967.”

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